


Intimacy Means...

by nothinbetter



Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-24
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-26 09:59:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7569790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothinbetter/pseuds/nothinbetter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Intimacy doesn't always mean sex.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Wash Her Hair

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, guys! Yesterday I saw a post on tumblr about intimacy not always meaning sex, so I had some ideas. Again, English not first language and I haven't written in over a year. Tell me what you guys think about the story!

Intimacy doesn’t always mean sex. Sometimes it means washing your partner’s hair, for example.

When Cosima was sick, there were days she couldn’t even get out of bed. Any effort of her part would cause an uncontrollable coughing fit that lasted for several minutes, usually involving blood.

One day Cosima was particularly weaker, staying in bed for a week. Delphine moved in so she could take care of her girlfriend, bringing her meals to bed, taking her temperature every hour, giving her medicines and just keeping her company. The blonde also helped her out of bed when Cosima needed to go to the bathroom or take a shower.

“Ugh,” Cosima murmured as Delphine got into the room holding a glass of water, “I need to wash my hair. It’s been more than a week, but I can’t get out of this fucking bed.”

Delphine sat next to Cosima in the bed and put the glass on the nightstand. She caressed the brunette’s face and leaned in to kiss her forehead. “I can help you with that, _chérie_.”

“No, no, you already do so much, I can’t accept-“

“It’s no problem, Cosima. Come on.” She put her arm around Cosima’s small body and helped her get out of bed. “Up you go.”

They walk to the bathroom and Delphine sat Cosima on the toilet while she turned on the bathtub faucet. The blonde held Cosima up and got her into the warm water, kneeling beside her. She heard all the instructions from the brunette and then began washing the hair.

“Uh… Delphine,” Cosima said after a while, “I think you’re not doing it right.”

“But I’m doing it just the way you told me to.” Delphine stopped her motions.

“It doesn’t feel right, though.”

“Isn’t it like that?” The French doctor showed Cosima how she was doing. The brunette shook her head and spread water all over the bathroom, including on her now drenched girlfriend.

“No. It’s like this.” She showed Delphine the right way. “No, Delphine!”

Delphine understood Cosima was tired and might be feeling like a burden because she couldn’t do anything on her own, hence the irritability, so the blonde tried being very patient, which was somehow hard when Cosima was almost yelling at her for not doing things how she was telling. Although for Delphine she was doing exactly the same thing.

“No, no, no. That’s not how I told you to do!” Cosima took her dreads out of Delphine’s hands and began washing them herself.

“Alright, then you just do it!” Delphine said losing her temper, but immediately regretting it. She watched for a minute, disapproving Cosima’s unnecessary waste of energy. The brunette seemed to use all her strength on just wetting her dreads and soon she laid back on the bathtub and took deep breaths, not able to continue.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you,” Cosima murmured, her eyes closed and her chest heaving.

The French woman placed her hand over Cosima’s and caressed it with her thumb. “No, I am sorry. I wasn’t doing it right.”

“No, you were perfect. I’m just a little tired, that’s all.”

“Maybe we should do this another day.”

“We’re already here, let’s just get this over with.” Cosima opened her eyes and looked at Delphine and in those beautiful doe eyes she saw unconditional love, the kind of love that would stick to her until the very end, the love that would do absolutely anything for her.

Delphine nodded her head and quietly finished washing the dreads. She helped Cosima out of the tub and dried her body with a towel and her dreads with a hair dryer. When Cosima was safely back under the covers, she took the blonde’s hand in hers and smiled weakly. “Thank you. But I hope you never have to do that again for me.”

The doctor squeezed Cosima’s hand and kissed her already closed eyelids. The bedside lamp was turned off. She whispered, “I hope so, too.”


	2. Help Her Shave

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, guys! I'm a slow writer but these are short, so maybe I'll post it every other day. We'll see. Anyway, reviews are nice! (Also, the chapters stand alone)

Intimacy doesn’t always mean sex. Sometimes it means helping your partner shave, for example.

One time Delphine broke her arm. She swore she was just doing her ordinary work, then she turned around to get some things and suddenly she was on the lab floor and her arm hurt like hell. Next thing she’s in the hospital with a desperate wide-eyed Cosima in the chair beside the bed waving her hands around.

“Delphine!” She whined. “You texted me saying you were in the hospital and I nearly freaked out! Next time you might want to give me a heads up on the reason why you’re in the hospital.”

“Well, I could barely text, Cosima.” Delphine pointed to her arm, now in a cast. “Broken arm, remember?”

“Right,” the brunette breathed. She took Delphine’s good hand in her own and squeezed it. “Sorry. I promise I’ll take care of you.”

Cosima took some days off work so she could stay at home and help Delphine, who had to keep the cast for at least a week and a half. In the first couple of days, the brunette did everything for Delphine so the blonde wouldn’t lift her arm not even a bit. The French doctor thought it was nice, getting all this attention from her girlfriend and having someone to get her a glass of water when she was too lazy to get up from the couch. But after a few days, the whole thing became unbearable. Delphine just wanted to go for a walk because she hadn’t left the apartment since she came back from the hospital. She was going insane.

“No. The doctor said you should rest and move your arm as little as you can,” Cosima said. “That means no wandering around. Go back to the couch and let me handle everything.”

“I’m a doctor, Cosima! I know what he said and also know that staying here locked up is not doing me well.”

The brunette blocked the front door when Delphine got up from the sofa. “You’re not going!”

“Ugh. Alright. _D’accord_.” The blonde stepped back, still not sitting. “But with one condition. This may sound a little embarrassing, but it’s been a week since I last shaved my legs and it’s really bothering me. I can’t do it on my own, so if you could help…”

Cosima looked at Delphine and nodded her head immediately. It wasn’t really embarrassing, but it _is_ Delphine we’re talking about. Anyway, anything to keep the blonde quiet and resting like the doctor told her to.

They got to the bathroom and Delphine sat on the toilet waiting for Cosima to turn on the faucet and some water to accumulate in the bathtub. She spread her legs and her feet met warm water, her body relaxing in the same instant. Cosima grabbed the soap and worked it all over Delphine’s legs until it formed a rich lather, then she got the razor and started shaving, noticing the softness on the blonde’s legs and how the razor ran smoothly over her skin.

“You missed that spot, _mon cœur_.” Delphine pointed out when Cosima finished rinsing her long legs. “That one too. And that one.”

“You don’t really have to shave. I’m fine with hair and you should be too,” the brunette said while she tried fixing the hairy spots she left.

“It sounds like you’re just saying that because you can’t do it right,” Delphine teased. She bit down on her lip and waited. When Cosima turned her head to answer her girlfriend properly, Delphine immediately shrieked. They looked at her leg and saw a trail of blood running down and colouring the water crimson.

“Oh, my God! I’m so sorry!” Cosima ran into the kitchen, found a package of Band-Aid and came back as fast as she could, quickly applying the bandage over the small cut on Delphine’s leg. The blonde smiled and pulled Cosima down for a soft kiss on her lips.

“My hero,” she cooed and kissed Cosima again.

“Dude, I’m really sorry about your leg, but if that’s the treatment a hero gets, then you should be put in danger more often,” the brunette joked, noticing Delphine’s glare towards her.

“ _Tais-toi_ and finish the leg.” Delphine smiled and watched as her girlfriend shaved the last remains of hair. “Now you own me one for the leg, huh?” She tried to convince Cosima, even though she knew she had no chance to, the smug smile already appearing on the clone’s face.

“No walks.”


	3. Crazy Things

Intimacy doesn’t always mean sex. Sometimes it means doing crazy things with your partner.

Delphine’s been driving for a while. The road traffic was normal, so they should probably arrive to their destination very soon. Cosima pressed a button on the radio, skipping the songs she didn’t like. Delphine shook her head, a small smile playing on her lips. They agreed that they would take turns on choosing the songs. The brunette took advantage of her girlfriend’s good mood and chose the songs she knew.

They got to the town of their destination when the moon was already high on the night sky. The beaches were almost empty, except for a couple of people walking by the shore holding their flip-flops and towels thrown over their shoulders. Delphine drove by the beachfront through the town for a few more kilometers until they got to a private beaches area.

“It must be here,” Cosima said while she looked around trying to find a house with a specific number. “She said we just have to go around it.”

The car went into a narrow street and stopped before getting to the beach sand. The moonlight made the night brighter. However, Delphine took a torch from the backseat while Cosima carried the rest of the stuff as they made their way to the sea. Both sat on towels watching the waves break on the shore and on the rocks that surrounded the bay and hid them from the other houses nearby.

Delphine observed the landscape and remembered something, “You know what we forgot?” She sighed. “Our swimsuits.”

Cosima went silent for a minute, thinking, and then she got up. The brunette started taking off her shirt and pants, folding them and putting them aside. She unhooked her bra and threw it at Delphine, teasing her girlfriend. At last, her panties joined the rest of her clothes. She walked up to the sea and dived into the lukewarm water, going deeper so the waves could cover her naked body. Delphine’s jaw dropped. Cosima wet her dreads and called the French doctor to join her.

“I’m not doing this, Cosima!” she shouts. “It’s crazy!”

“Del! We only live once! C’mon, there’s no one here.”

Delphine hesitated, her eyes wavering between the forgotten clothes on the floor and her girlfriend in the sea, and she finally gave up, “Look the other way!” the blonde shouted. Cosima opens her mouth to answer, but close it soon after. Her eyes rolled and she shook her head, unbelieving. Delphine and her nonsensical shame. The blonde woman finished getting undressed and ran to the sea, joining her girlfriend.

Cosima entwined her wet fingers through still dry blonde hair and pulled Delphine in for a salty kiss. Both women grimaced at the taste of the sea. The clone caressed her girlfriend’s lips with the thumb, watching the droplets shine under the moonlight. Her touch went down to the bare shoulders and there’s a certain excitement over being naked in a public place.

Water splash hit Cosima’s face and Delphine started running away through the sea, fighting against the waves that almost carried her to the shore. They chase one another and enjoy the ocean until the blonde felt something on her feet and ran to the sand, screaming and shaking her feet, desperate. Cosima burst out laughing.

Maybe beaches are not as romantic as in the movies.


	4. Leaving Notes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is short, but I hope you guys are enjoying the stories!

Intimacy doesn’t always mean sex. Sometimes it means leaving unexpected notes to surprise your partner.

Everyday Delphine and Cosima wake up and go through their morning routine. Usually, as soon as the alarm clock goes off, both women wake up and stay a little longer in bed until they have enough strength to get up and face the day to come. Delphine gets up first and uses the bathroom, followed by Cosima. Breakfast is nothing fancy. The blonde takes some food from the fridge and some dish from the cupboard and puts the kettle over the stove to heat some water before going to the front door to get the newspapers.  Cosima comes, takes the kettle off the stove and prepares her coffee. They read the newspapers’ highlights then go back to the bedroom to get dressed. Delphine kisses her girlfriend, wishes her a great day, get her stuff and leaves the apartment. Cosima soon does the same.

Fridays are different. Delphine gets to work earlier, leaving the apartment when Cosima’s still waking up.

That Friday, after Delphine kissed her awake, Cosima stayed a little while in bed and then got up. She walked to the bathroom still kind of sleepy and when she looked at herself in the mirror she almost missed the yellow post-it glued to the glass. Delphine’s unmistakable and elegant calligraphy started a poem and, on the last verse, there are suspension points, indicating that’s to be continued.

Cosima walked into the kitchen and when she was about to open the fridge, there was another post-it, a blue one, with another stanza. As she went through her morning routine, the brunette found several colorful papers glued on the stove, the cupboard, the hallway. The last one she found, on the door knob, finished the poem with a message wishing her an amazing day.

When at the University, Cosima’s dismissing a class full of students and put a hand in her jeans’ back pocket. There she found another post-it. “ _Tu me manques. Je t’aime_ _._ ” was written on it.

Fridays are the best.


	5. Expecting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for not posting yesterday, things are a little hard at home. This one is also short, but anyway, enjoy!

Intimacy doesn’t always mean sex. Sometimes it means expecting things together.

Some months ago, both women decided it was time for their family to grow. After making their marriage official, Delphine felt it was time to add another member to the apartment. They visited a clinic and weeks later the sperm was introduced inside Delphine’s uterus. They agreed on a maximum number of shots.

The first attempt didn’t get any results.

The second attempt didn’t get any results.

Despite all the effort Cosima put into comforting and supporting her, Delphine was getting more and more secluded and sad. Some days the blonde left earlier for work to avoid any conversation with Cosima. She came back later to spend as little time as she can at home. She turned her back to her wife every night when they went to bed. A peck on the lips when she arrived was all the touch the brunette got. Cosima, as the days went by, realized the mistake she made when she agreed to the insemination, however, there was no turning back now. They had agreed on four attempts. The third one was almost a month ago.

 

On her way back home, Cosima walked by a drugstore and bought a pregnancy test. Even if she had some hope left, the brunette braced herself for another failed attempt. She also braced herself for Delphine’s mood to get worse. If the test was negative, Cosima thought, they would have a serious talk. Things couldn’t continue the way they were.

When Delphine arrived, Cosima offered her the test. The blonde stared at the package on her wife’s hands and sighed. Both women walk to the bathroom. While they waited for the time to pass, Delphine leant on the corridor wall and Cosima leant on the opposite wall, right in front of her. The French doctor was tearing up and glanced at her wife, meaningfully, and Cosima held her in her arms.

By the end of the required time, they hesitated. The test awaited on the bathroom cabinet. It was surreal. They could be pregnant or not. Only a glance and they’d know. Cosima held the object without really looking at it. Delphine was by her side holding her hand tight.

Cosima looked at it. Delphine looked at it.

Two pink lines stared back at them.


	6. Singing

Intimacy doesn’t always mean sex. Sometimes it means singing in front of other people.

When Cosima first met Delphine, she knew there was something different and special about the blonde. As the clone got to know Delphine better, she found out some interesting and unexpected things.

After finding out that Delphine cried after sex and eating all the eskimo pies they could, the French doctor said she would take a shower. As soon as the water started running, Cosima heard a melody coming from the bathroom and thought Delphine had taken her phone with her to put some music on, as the brunette often did too.

But when Delphine turned off the shower, from the corner of her eye Cosima saw the blonde’s phone on the nightstand. She startled when warm hands laced her waist and a head fell softly on her shoulder.

“You’re a great singer,” Cosima said. Delphine tensed behind her. The brunette got out of the embrace and looked at the taller woman’s face. Her eyes were slightly wide and her cheeks had a rose colour to them. She turned her gaze to the floor.

“Uh… Thank you,” the blonde said. Cosima lifted Delphine’s head and kissed her forehead before kissing her lips. The French woman walked back until her knees hit the bed and they fell into the mattress.

“You’ll have to take another shower,” the brunette murmured with Delphine’s mouth over hers.

“I don’t mind at all,” came Delphine’s reply and she shut the other woman with more kissing.

Thinking back to that day, Cosima guesses the moment Delphine sang in the shower was the first time she let her walls down around her. When she was careless singing, the blonde wasn’t tense or nervous. She wasn’t pretending anything either. She was just singing. Beautifully, by the way.

Later on, when Cosima told Delphine she was sick and when she was coughing too hard, they would lay in bed or sofa and the French held the clone close against her chest, caressed her back and her hair, and sang softly in her ear until she fell asleep and wasn’t coughing anymore.

Usually, Delphine also sang in French when she did silly casual things, like cleaning, watering the plants, or folding the clothes, and she thought Cosima wasn’t around to hear.

The brunette leans on a wall nearby and just listens to Delphine singing until she goes abruptly silent and Cosima knows she’s been caught. Then the blonde starts tickling her girlfriend before stopping altogether when the clone gets out of breath, so she looks up to meet those intense puppy eyes staring her back with a glint of worry on them.

“I’m fine, don’t worry,” Cosima says as she recovers her breath. Delphine fights the urge to start a speech, Cosima’s just not sure whether it’d be about being more careful with her breathing problem or about the brunette hearing her through the door.

“You were eavesdropping again!” Delphine crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Cosima, although the brunette could see the smile behind her scowl.

“I just like to hear you sing, babe” Cosima hugged her wife and buried her face on the taller woman’s neck, smelling the sweet scent that was pure Delphine.

“You know… I’ve never sung in front of other people, except you,” the blonde confessed in a whisper. Cosima didn’t know that.

Cosima stared at Delphine in the eye, searching for that loving look she knew she’d always find in those beautiful irises. “I’m glad you have.”


	7. I Love You

Intimacy doesn’t always mean sex. Sometimes it means saying I love you, but not with these exactly words.

Cosima comes home to find Delphine sitting in the sofa, reading. The French woman’s eyes are almost closed and she startles when the front door closes. Delphine places the book on the coffee table, but doesn’t get up. Cosima approaches her girlfriend holding several shopping bags.

“Hello, _chérie_ ,” Delphine greets her, still sleepy. “How was the shopping?”

“It was great! Sarah’s got a new job. She said it’s better than the other one.” Cosima sits down beside Delphine and tousles her already disheveled blond curls. “Oh, she told us to visit her and Kira one of these days.”

“Maybe we can go this weekend.” Delphine straightened up. “You got that pants you wanted?”

_“_ Yes! _”_ Cosima leans over the bags, rummages through them, searching, and then taking a colorful package. She turns her body to the blonde and holds the present on her hands. “I saw this on a showcase and _it reminded me of you_.”

“You didn’t have to,” the French murmurs while she takes the package and tears the wrapping right away, anxious to see what’s inside. As she sees her girlfriend’s happy face when she opens the present, Cosima is sure, she _did_ have to.

 

When both women left their room, the weather was pleasant. As the hours went by, however, a cold wind started blowing, but either way Cosima insisted on walking around a park near the hotel. Well, Cosima said the park was near, but they’d walked too many blocks until finally finding it and, as it always ended up happening, the couple doesn’t know for sure where they are now.

“Can I say this was a bad idea?” Delphine says when she notices Cosima can’t stop shivering. The clone’s wearing a jacket, but its fabric does very little to keep the warmth around her petite body.

“Shut up,” Cosima murmurs. They’re trying to go back to the hotel, or at least find the main street, which Delphine is sure is close to where they’re checked in.

Delphine walks a couple meters behind Cosima, checking every crossroad they pass. She observes the way her girlfriend has both her arms wrapped around herself and is still shivering. The blonde can’t help being extremely worried with her health, even if the disease is cured. Habits. She takes off her own coat, which is thicker, walks a little faster and grabs Cosima’s elbow, making her stop.

“ _You can have my coat_ ,” Delphine offers. She puts it on Cosima’s shoulders and rubs her girlfriend’s arms over the fabric.

Eventually they find the hotel. Cosima gives back the coat. The next time Delphine wears it, she smiles and is happy that another one of her clothes smells like her girlfriend.

 

While driving back to the apartment, Delphine gets slightly upset. Cosima set up a dinner weeks ago, but a work meeting was scheduled last minute and Delphine really couldn’t miss it, so she had to give up on partying with her friends.

In the elevator, she thinks at least the meeting was productive and she could solve some problems. As Delphine approaches the front door, she hopes everyone is still in there and tries hearing any voice inside, indicating the party’s not over yet. When she comes in, however, silence takes up the place. The living room lights are dimmed down, accentuating the bright light coming from the kitchen. She walks up to the next room and sees her girlfriend by the sink, doing some dishes. Putting her hands on Cosima’s shoulders, Delphine kisses her on the cheek.

“Has everybody left already?” Delphine sits on a stool by the counter.

“Yeah. The life of the party wasn’t here, you know.” Cosima smiles and turns her body to her girlfriend so the blonde could see the wink meant for her. “Felix brought a drive with whatever you asked for in it. It’s on your nightstand.”

Delphine nods.

“Did you eat anything?” The brunette asks. She dries her hands on the kitchen towel, walks up to Delphine, sets her waves free from the bun and caresses the blond hair. She kisses her girlfriend’s forehead.

“I did.” Delphine closes her eyes.

“Alison brought that pie you like.” The French woman gets excited, but her smile fades soon after. Probably everyone ate it and there’s nothing left. “ _I saved you a slice_.”

Delphine kisses her girlfriend quickly and heads to the fridge with a fork and a plate in her hands. Cosima shakes her head and laughs. In fact, there would be no pie left, but the brunette saved her own slice so Delphine could eat it.

 

Sometimes Cosima forgets things very easily. Delphine too, that’s why she sets an alarm for all the important things she can’t forget. If she has anything to do, it’s guaranteed a new alarm would be added to her phone. Cosima, on the other hand, sometimes writes a reminder, sometimes she doesn’t. That’s why she always forgets to take her medicines.

Delphine says she’s going to bed. Cosima replies she’ll be there in a minute, but she remains in the living room. The blonde walks to the kitchen and fills a glass with water. She looks at the place where the medicines are kept.

“ _Have you taken your medicine yet,_ mon amour _?_ ” Delphine shouts from the kitchen.

“…Yeah,” Cosima answers and goes silent. The French woman shakes her head. The clone comes into the kitchen, takes one of her pills and swallows it with some water from the glass Delphine’s holding. “Nope.”

 

Every morning was the same. Delphine gets up first, get dressed, eat something and leaves for work while Cosima’s still having breakfast. Before getting her stuff and walking through the door, the blonde stops in front of her girlfriend and, as usual, Cosima lifts her head so Delphine can peck her lips good-bye.

“ _Have a nice day, mon chou. Take care._ See you later!” Delphine shouts so her girlfriend can hear her as she closes the front door.

When Delphine has a business trip scheduled, Cosima always takes her to the airport. The blonde can see the sadness in the clone’s eyes whenever they say goodbye on the boarding gate.

“ _Take care_ ,” Cosima says every time. “ _I love you.”_


End file.
